


Mother of Dragons

by HarperPotts



Series: Game of Thrones - Alternate Endings [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, game of thrones
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:54:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21776362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarperPotts/pseuds/HarperPotts
Summary: A happier alternate ending
Relationships: Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen
Series: Game of Thrones - Alternate Endings [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569346
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	Mother of Dragons

**Mother of Dragons**

  
Jon felt less than comfortable as he visited Daenerys in her chambers. Varys had attempted to betray his queen. The eunuch had even sounded him out and encouraged him to turn on her. He had refused, but he had said nothing. If he had said something, would it have mattered? Maybe not, but the fact that he had said nothing. That did matter. It had been his duty to say something, and he’d done nothing.  
  
The execution itself had been gruesome, but all executions were awful. Varys had more than earned it. Treason could not be tolerated. Daenerys had even conducted the execution honorably. The one who passed the sentence should be the one who swung the blade. She had used Drogon’s flame, but he was just a weapon in her hand. Jon had never been comfortable carrying out executions, but as with the ones he had done, it had been necessary.  
  
Daenerys didn’t look well. She was visibly distraught when she turned to him. “What did I say would happen if you told your sister?”  
  
“I don't want it, and that's what I told him.” Which was truth, but it had also been treason. He had failed her by saying nothing, and it shamed him. She had also been right about telling Sansa, and that shamed him as well.  
  
“She killed Varys as much as I did. This was a victory for her. Now she knows what happens when people hear the truth about you. Far more people in Westeros love you than love me. I don't have love here. I only have fear.”  
  
“I love you, and you will always be my queen.”” The words felt wooden in his mouth. They were true, but he hadn’t loved her enough not to tell Sansa and Arya, even when she had begged him. She’d been right, he’d been wrong, and his sister had broken her sworn word. Now the distance between him and Daenerys had grown farther.  
  
“Is that all I am to you? Your queen?”  
  
No, but they could never be. Daenerys wanted to be queen as much as she wanted to breathe. Her ambition was naked, but honest. He could never be by her side. All he could do was sigh in frustration.  
  
“All right then, I took you for a man of honor. I never thought you would be the kind of man to abandon the mother of your child.”  
  
He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “My child?”  
  
“Our child. You do not know how children are made? Or do you think I dally with every man who pleases my eye?”  
  
“I…” What? “You…” He bowed his head. “You were right about Sansa. I was wrong. Now I can never be by your side. Always there will be men like Varys who think I should rule, that a king is more natural than a queen, that distrust your being an outsider from Essos, when I am at least of Westeros. Men who just think I would be easier to control. Always they will seek to turn us against each other. I can’t be by your side any longer, but I will always serve you. You will always be my queen, and more, inside my heart.”  
  
“That was your reason?” She looked incredulous.  
  
Jon nodded miserably. There was also that she was his aunt, which had bothered him a little, but she didn’t feel like his aunt, and truly that didn’t matter any longer. Her naked ambition troubled him… Yet, she had been right time and again. When it mattered the most she’d put her life and dragons on the line and she’d done it for him. It was time for him to be there for her and his child. “I’ll be right behind you always.”  
  
She sighed and smiled. “You wonderful, foolish man. You will be my consort, my husband in all but name. Always in the shadow, except when we’re alone.”  
  
He felt hope surge inside him. “And that will work? You said we would never be?” And he had understood, she would allow nothing between her and the throne and they could never wed.  
  
“Not like we could have been. You will have to always defer to me in every way in public. We could have been almost equal.”  
  
But? That was better. “I accept. I never wanted to rule.” He knelt down. “I will follow you always, one step behind. Yours in everything.”  
  
Daenerys laughed, joy dancing in her eyes. She grabbed his hand and tugged him up. “Kiss me already.”  
  


.oOo.

  
Riding on the back of Drogon in the sky above King’s Landing, she heard the bells begin to toll. For a brief moment she considered razing the city anyway. The Seven Kingdoms would never love her, but Jon did and that was enough. Her hand drifted south to her belly, and she would be the mother of her own dragons.

**Author's Note:**

> The Wheel was rather depressing so for my next alternate I wanted something more light-hearted.
> 
> Honestly, my issue with Season 8 is how rushed it was. I loved Daenerys as a character, but her fall from hero to villain happened way too fast. Yes, there were signs, and I wasn't blind to them. I saw the ending coming and hoped they wouldn't go there. There was certainly reason to hope. Overcoming the temptation of the dark side is a common hero trope. Any time up until Daenerys burned down King's Landing she could have changed her course.
> 
> While this ending is sappy and a break in tone for GoT / ASoIaF, I would have preferred something like this to Season 8. GRRMs plot is a behemoth and if Daenerys had a slow fall into madness, I wouldn't have been thrilled, but I probably wouldn't have hated it. But the fall to villany is a very hard plot to pull off. Star Wars had three whole movies to justify Anakin Skywalker falling to the dark side - and still didn't pull it off. I know GRRM plotted for Daenerys to be the final villain, but to spend all that time building her up to fall so arbitarily - suck. If you weren't going to take the time to do justice to GRRM's ending (and HBO offered three more seasons) - then change the ending. They could have pulled off a Daenerys and Jon happy ending in just as many episodes and it would have made more sense. Instead the Starks get a happy ending aribitarily handed to them and Dany went mad - so she had to die. Phhbtttpppttp


End file.
